Things To Do Before I Kick It
by SteampunkSamurai
Summary: Sonic/OC story in which boy meets girl- almost. No sues, no crazy world threatening gimmicks, no OOC-ness. The focus is on Sonic and his friends during their daily lives cos that's who we came to read about after all!
1. Things To Do Before I Kick It

Ok, so this is a fanfic I created and wrote a little of last night. I've just always felt that the girls Sonic is 'officially' paired with are more of a burden than a joy, so yes this is a Sonic/OC story. No sues, no gimmicks, and no Amy chasing or Sally nagging! The female character in this is purely the type of girl I think Sonic would click with; this is hard to explain but she is not my fan character (even though, I guess she is now since I created her?), I don't draw Sonic, I'm simply a fan of the games. I made up the girl as I made up the story- and I still need to come up with a name because writing 'she' constantly will be annoying am I right!

As for events and the 'world'; let me just say that I'm not too bothered about getting things right geographically, and that I like to think of Sonic and his games as him growing up, the classic look and games are him when he was younger, and his present look and games are him as a fifteen+ year old. I like to think that that would explain why he used to be short and round with little quills, and now he's tall and lean with longer quills- it's puberty people!

But it is important to me that Mobius stays as it always has been, no humans and their earth like cities, save that for Sonic X!

That's enough justification from me, please enjoy my story.

Sonic had been awake long before the rest of Mobotropolis, he had already sped through the cities, ventured through Emerald Hill, and watched the sun rise as he lounged among the flowers growing on top of heavenly scented mountains. By the time the residents of Mobotropolis were making their way to work, or packing their beach gear and trekking off to the beach to enjoy what was left of summer; Sonic had already stopped by Angel Island for a quick tease with Knuckles and journeyed as far as 'Casino Night'.

Robotnick had originally filled the place with badnicks and a whole variety of other painful deaths, but, even though he was still a young hedgehog back then, Sonic had cleared the place and beat the egg head with ease; nowadays the Dr simply used the place for its only other- non hedgehog murdering- purpose, entertainment.

'Casino Night' was now a very popular venue for gambling addicts and families alike, all of the old mechanisms were still in place- aside from the obvious racks of spikes- and slot machines were aplenty; the Sonic Team did consider demolishing the place completely in the thought they'd be nipping a potential problem in the bud, but Sonic objected, he saw no wrong in Dr Robotnick making a half honest living, as long as money was all he was after with this endeavour. Besides, in order for the games to keep coming, Sonic's enemy needed some kind of funding.

Still the hedgehog was a regular visitor of 'Casino Night'; he was going to hold himself responsible if anything sinister should happen with the place and its innocent customers.

Sonic perched on top of a floating platform after a seriously powerful vault sent him sailing through the air a good hundred meters- just because he was investigating didn't mean he couldn't have fun! He took in a deep breath and looked around his elevated surroundings, deciding that he definitely got a bigger kick out of the place at night; although all of the machines were on, the blaring neon lights were reserved for the night which made 'Casino Night' seem kind of lifeless right now. And the place was surprisingly tame during the day, despite still being open- the only people that would usually hover around were the addicts or mischievous kids trying out their latest Extreme Gear modifications.

That thought made Sonic give out a slight chuckle; if only Tails were more rebellious. He would love to see his shy little brother shuffle his feet in approaching the other kids…and then blowing them out of the water with his sheer genius. But no, Tails was far too conscientious to screw around on someone else's property, instead the little fox was holed up in his workshop tinkering with new ways to find and harness chaos emeralds, or upgrading the Tornado; anything he could do to help Sonic in his constant battle against Dr Robotnick.

The teen continued to giggle to himself; he found Tails' serious attitude to what Sonic considered his favourite game so endearing- he'd been caring for Tails since the fox was very young and even though he was now an eight year old with the maturity and intelligence of an old timer, Sonic knew that no matter how old his little bro' was, he'd still carry that slight air of naivety which kept him from realising why Sonic would pat his head and laugh on his way to another 'Eggman' ass kicking.

Said 'Eggman' had been extremely quiet recently, which the blue blur found both slightly worrying and extremely exciting, the longer the Dr was away the bigger his schemes always turned out to be. And we weren't dealing with your everyday badnicks in these plans; it was always some kind of powerful robot army packing plenty of firepower; and, the best thing, new mecha playgrounds!

The enticing daydream sent a sudden surge of adrenalin through the hedgehog's body and had Sonic skimming through the Casino in the need for some kind of entertainment, maybe Knuckles was up for a fight- surely seeing Sonic's cocky grin twice in one morning would send him into the frenzy Sonic wanted, if not then Sonic figured he'd seek out Shadow for a race, and if that failed…he'd simply wander around until the pink one spotted him.

Still on higher planes, Sonic stumbled in his attempt to halt his rapid footwork; he stood poised as he silently watched the stranger clinging to the edge of the casinos first platform, peeking over the rim and looking onto the prop filled gorge below whilst groaning to herself in nervousness.

The girl was willing herself to go over the edge but she just couldn't do it, the porcupine's eyes were now screwed closed and she was mentally kicking herself for being such a wimp; she had vowed to use her last week of freedom to cross off various activities from her 'Things to do before I kick it' list, and exploration was dotted around the piece of paper far too much to avoid it.

The female sighed and rose to her feet, scooping up her battered old backpack on her way back to the casino's entrance; Sonic also felt himself sigh in disappointment, he had somehow gotten drawn in to this little spectacle and it was already over before it even began.

'Perhaps I should-' Sonic's thoughts halted when the stranger suddenly dumped her bag and threw herself over the platform edge! Sonic let out a small yell of surprise but he stopped himself from intervening when the girl's shriek had transformed into laughter, possibly because she was now effectively a furry pinball.

Sonic found himself jumping from platform to platform completely captivated in the porcupine's tiny adventure, it was plain to see that she was extremely unsteady as the various mechanisms sent her flying and spiralling all over the place- she had no control over where her body was being flung to, but still she was laughing. Sonic felt waves of nostalgia running through him, he remembered when he was still in single digits and stumbling through one of Dr Robotnick's metallic parks for the very first time; he was just there to have fun but he accidentally wore down Robotnick's androids and caused the Dr's plan to break down.

He tracked the pale blue stranger as she darted across the casino, jumping great heights and achieving sharp speeds- for a slow person anyway- Sonic hung back and stayed out of sight in this game; he thought that with that performance, she'd die of humiliation if Sonic The Hedgehog showed up!

The fourteen year old collapsed into a panting, giggling heap at the end of the circuit, the little spinning sign post at the end had taken her finishing photo and was printing out the image of her victory as the screen flashed from her winning photo to a grotesque portrait of the casino owner, whose strained smile simply revealed more of his ugly features.

"It's a shame that moustache doesn't cover his whole face." she sighed, raising a small, limp hand to pull her photo out from the sign's side dispenser and perking her ear up at the sound of distant laughter- probably some junkie.

She stuck out her tongue in disapproval of this unflattering photo, she never thought of herself as someone 'drop dead gorgeous' but she knew she was a pretty decent specimen, not this…mess! She always kept her long quills tied back in a ponytail type fashion, using anything from rags to ties to string them back; she kind of resented her thick quills, wishing she had inherited her mother's fine hair instead. She was the spitting image of her mother, a pale blue and very small porcupine with bright yellow eyes, her ebony father, on the other hand, was a giant of a porcupine; everything about him was strong and powerful, if not for her thick quills and the bushy black fringe that fell all over the front of her face, people may have questioned if she was his daughter at all.

"I really should get out more." She said stroking at her muzzle, her usually white muzzle made her little nose stand out but her face was so red in the photo that none of her features could detract from the blazing red cheeks.

The teen dug around in her little backpack and pulled out the list that was to blame for today's events.

"See, I told you I'd do something new." She mumbled with a pen lid in her mouth as she crossed off the offending task in an extravagant sweep.

Sonic, who was on the verge of leaving now that the show was over, paused at this sudden disclosure; was this her very first run?

After stealing a quick glance at his stranger acquaintance, Sonic zipped through the exit and sped on home…after a quick pit stop at the chilli dog stand that is.

So that was the first chapter I guess, more characterization will follow if I decide to do anymore (that's the only thing I'm concerned is lacking in this chapter). I think this story is going to be a slow burner.


	2. Playdate

Short chapter I did today, enjoy.

Just as Tails was his little brother, Cream the rabbit was practically a sister to Sonic The Hedgehog; and as such, the two had regular play dates. Sonic found it tough to endure the girlier things that Cream wanted to do, but their mutual love of the outdoors had kept these regular visits fresh and enjoyable for both of them. Today the two friends played their way through Green Hill and explored the various flower fields beyond it before settling down so Cream could make her mother one of her special flower crowns, she also took this moment to teach Sonic how to make them so he could surprise Amy with one.

"Hey Cream" Sonic spoke up as he untangled yet another flower crown catastrophe.

"Hmm?"

"When did you first start exploring Mobius?" Cream was slightly taken aback by this question; it was so specific for Sonic.

"Well, I remember when I was little my mother and I would go to all sorts of places." Cream suddenly clasped her hands together with a large smile spread across her little white muzzle "And I remember the day I found Cheese, or should I say his egg! It was stuck up in a tree just outside of Mystic Ruins, getting that egg was when I found out I could fly!" Cheese nuzzled up to her and she beamed over at Sonic, who was looking very thoughtful.

"Why do you ask?" She gently brought him back to reality.

"No reason." He stated blankly, returning back to his flowery mess.

"Hey Cream" He spoke up again.

"Hmmm?"

"Do you think there are people out there who've never explored Mobius?"

"I should hope not. What else could they have been doing all this time?-"

"That's what I thought!" Sonic swivelled round to face her in his moment of enthusiasm. Realising he had interrupted her in this strange outburst; he tried to revert to his act of mild curiosity. "That is to say…interesting question."

"Sonic, is this about your new friend?" Cream, who was tired of beating around the bush, leaned into Sonic's now wide eyed view with an innocent smile on her face.

"How did you-"

"She's one of Rouge's clients. It seems that you and Rouge have been spying on the same girl these past few days; and Rouge has been telling everyone about it." Cream continued to speak in a matter of fact tone with the same innocent smile on her face, little did she realise that Rouge's 'clients' were people the bat was looking to 'profit' from.

The blue blur, unfazed by the potential lies Rouge had been spinning all over town, leaned back propped up on his elbows and recalled his friends' attitudes over the past few days- they were surprisingly indifferent…besides that odd stifled laugh Knuckles had developed, now that made sense.

"So that must be why Amy went crazy on me yesterday huh?" Sonic glanced over at Cream with a lazy smile.

"No, Amy doesn't know yet."


	3. Spy Games

Rouge lounged on top of an extremely high platform within 'Casino Night'; she had been growing increasingly irritated by her newest target, one Leila Porcumyer, whose family had moved to Mobotropolis a couple of months ago. Rouge used her position within G.U.N to seek out families such as this and earn herself a little extra cash, but this kid was trying her last nerve- after a month of barely venturing outside her own back garden the girl suddenly decided to run around this stinking casino every day, and so early in the morning! Rouge was a sexy secret agent and a treasure hunter extraordinaire but she was definitely not a morning person!

"Good morning Rouge." Sonic's slightly disgruntled voice came from behind. He'd been trying to seek out the bat since Cream gave him the heads up about her spying on him spying on his newfound interest.

Rouge adjusted herself from her lazed position into a more seductive one, wearing a knowing smile "Well hello there big blue" she cooed "I almost thought you'd lost interest in our little athlete down there."

"It's a good show." Sonic shrugged with his trademark grin. "But what are you looking to get from all this?" he nodded in her direction.

Rouge chuckled darkly, circling the hedgehog and guiding him to the edge of their platform with her hand on his shoulder,

"Look at her Sonic" Rouge pointed out the determined little porcupine as she sprung from stand to stand in an almost fluid movement, Sonic felt a familiar flutter in his chest, and a smile spread as he took note of how much she had improved since he first saw her a week ago.

"Now, looking at that scruffy little thing, you wouldn't think she was the heir to a fortune would you?" Rouge judged the teen rather harshly "It's plain to see that she has no idea what to do with the money already available to her, and so I think I'd be doing her a favour by lifting some of that future burden, don't you?"

Sonic was shocked to hear this information, and as much as he hated to agree with Rouge, the girl really didn't look like an upperclassman.

"…What else do you know?" Sonic asked hesitantly, knowing he was setting himself up for mockery.

"Why? What's it to you?" Rouge leaned in inches from his face; Sonic unhooked her arm from around him and backed away with an irritated look.

"It's just- she's just- interesting is all." Sonic folded his arms in defiance, truth be told even he didn't know how to define this strange interest he'd developed; and the sharp eyed Rouge, seeing the uncertainty in his eyes, decided to change her tactics in getting her prize.

"It makes me sad to see that you have become so obsessed by that bald old man and his games" Sonic turned his head and gave the bat, who was now smiling sympathetically at him, a questioning look. She wandered over to him and once again roped her arm around the hero "that you don't even recognise when you like someone."

"Whoa, let's not get ahead of ourselves." Sonic freed himself from Rouge's grip for the second time and chuckled at her girlie assumption. "I don't even know her name for chaos sake."

"Do you want to know her name?" Rouge said temptingly.

Sonic paused for a quick moment, leaning in like an animal baited with food "D-do you know it?" he asked with great curiosity.

Rouge sniggered "Sonic, honey. Don't you think you should find out your crush's name from the lucky lady herself?"

"She's not-"

"Oh please, I've been watching this girl for months and she's bored me to death. You see her for one day and follow her around this dump all week like it's a freakin' parade. Now go and talk to the girl!" Rouge smacked the back of the hedgehog's head in hopes it'd bash some sense into him.

"Yeah, yeah I will." Sonic stepped towards the edge of the platform, his voice sounding a little relieved now that Rouge had decided the next course of action for him. He turned and pointed a firm finger at the seductive bat "But not because I like her!"

"As if you'd know." Rouge mumbled to herself as she shooed him off the platform. Her plan was working perfectly.

"And another thing" Sonic rushed his words out as he teetered over the edge "if I talk to her, you gotta promise me you'll stop trying to rob her!"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Rouge whispered into Sonic's ear and kissed his cheek before shoving him off the edge.

Rouge couldn't help but admire her own genius, convincing Sonic that his interest was in fact a romantic one had lightened her workload by heaps- no girl could resist a famous hero's affections, no matter how clueless that hero was when it came to emotions, and soon enough the rich little snob would be inviting Rouge as part of the Sonic Team into her house with open arms. The best part of this plan, however, was that she didn't have to come back to this grimy casino ever again!

Sonic meanwhile, dropped into the zone a little paralyzed from Rouge's affections, they were so adult compared to Amy's constant glomping. He shook his head and started his search for the new girl that would be entering his life.

Even though she was already half way through the zone when Rouge pointed her out, Sonic was gladly surprised at how speedy she had become. He picked up his pace and made his way towards the zone's end; thoughts on what he should actually say were buzzing around in his mind like angry bees and the small flutter in his chest was now thumping.

While all this was happening, Leila gracefully jogged past the finishing post, this time trying to look like she wasn't about to die of exhaustion, she had gathered quite a collection of humiliating photos over the past week and it was important that this one was different.

Looking around at the zone she had been conquering with her dwindling time, Leila sighed wishing she had recorded it better. She turned her attention to the photo as it pinged out from the little sign post's dispenser, a smile emerged at the successful attempt at a good picture and she clipped it to her list along with the other photos.

"Well" she said tapping the little post "I guess this is goodbye then." And with that, she left the casino, got into her little car and drove back to her home which stood within the posh side of Mobotropolis.

For Leila, the summer had ended.


	4. Signs

Even though he was considered to be the fastest thing alive, Sonic reached the exit far too late to meet his stranger friend, all that was left of her appearance from today was the little sign post which continued to flit between Robotnick's ugly mug to her winning photo as if it were mocking him. If only he'd spent less time talking to that bat, he might have made it!

Sonic sighed in frustration and kneeled down to take his first proper look at the cause of his troubles, of course he had to avert his eyes every thirty seconds to avoid looking deep into the eyes of egg head's photo!

He didn't know how, but she was even more intriguing now that she was still. Her bright yellow eyes almost seemed to glow beneath the dark bushy fringe that was blowing over her face, and even though her cheeks carried a slight blush from her exertion her snowy muzzle showed off a cute, timid smile. But what was most interesting in Sonic's eyes, was just how plain she was, no fantastic markings, no blaring makeup, no bizarre accessories; and even her personality, or what he had seen of it anyway, was quietly fascinating- she wasn't a hero, she was simply a rich kid with a list of wishful adventures and a heart full of determination.

"Man, is this what it feels like?" he wondered to himself, thinking of his female admirers who could never get close enough to touch the person that captivated them.

After a brief moment, Sonic shook his head and let out a cocky laugh as he looked upon the girl with logical eyes; he was taking all of this 'feelings' nonsense way too seriously. He couldn't really have such strong feelings for her, he didn't even know her!

The hedgehog decided that this fascination was simply a by-product of his Robotnick related boredom and that when it came to meeting this girl tomorrow, he'd say hello then blow her mind with a whole new adventure. That seemed to be much more exciting than the prospect of holding hands and slurping a milkshake together.

Problem is, she didn't turn up the next day. Or any day after that.


	5. Revelations

"Tails? Hey Taaaails!" Sonic strolled into the converted aircraft hangar that was his and Tails' house and workshop, carefully skipping over engines and ducking under various chunks of metal that seemed to spring up from nowhere.

A bright little face peeked out from the cockpit of the Tornado, blue eyes full of their usual curiosity and excitement.

"Sonic! You're back! Where have you been!" Tails hopped down from the Tornado and gave his brother a quick squeeze; he hated being apart from Sonic for so long.

"For a run." The hedgehog shrugged.

"FOR THREE WEEKS!" Sonic and Tails turned in horror to face a furious Rouge who had invited herself into their house with the news that the blue blur had returned.

The bat was outraged at Sonic's sudden departure, she had expected to be seeing Leila a lot more in recent weeks but both she and Sonic had disappeared.

"Yep. Keeping myself busy, y'know." Sonic jogged on the spot to illustrate his point, his words were coming out so fast they were almost blending together. It was this moment, as Tails studied Sonic's face, that he realised how worn out he appeared; and from history Tails knew that Sonic seemed to go into overdrive when something was bothering him, he didn't seem to realise that he could run away from everything but his conscience.

"Oh! Here Tails!" Sonic turned sharply and started pulling out Chaos Emeralds from beneath his quills, all seven emeralds in fact! Tails was standing wide eyed and speechless; it usually took the team months to find the gems! "They're pretty easy to find if you look hard enough! Hey Rouge, I want to talk to you!" Sonic said in the same breath, dragging away a drooling Rouge as she made a grab for the precious Chaos Emeralds.

"You found the Chaos Emeralds already!" Rouge stumbled over these words in complete disbelief and continued to strain her neck in trying to peek at where Tails was hiding them; even she knew Sonic was stupid in showing them off in front of her, so of course Tails was locking them away somewhere the bat could never hope to reach them.

"Yeah, yeah. Rouge I've been thinking about what you said all those weeks ago-"

"Wait, wait. What happened with-"

"I never caught up with her I guess!" The hedgehog shrugged with a chuckle, stealing the conversation back. His tone was a bit frazzled.

Rouge grabbed Sonic's slim shoulders and crushed his forehead against hers. "So you just gave up!"

"Well I did wait around that Casino for a couple of days. But she never showed up-"

"You idiot! Of course she didn't, she's gone t-" Sonic placed a gloved hand over Rouge's mouth, the bat figured he must've been drowsy as Sonic would usually have enough sense to know never to touch her!

"You have got to stop doing that." Sonic looked blankly into Rouge's angry eyes.

"Look, I decided that she was only interesting me because I had nothing else to do. So I thought I'd do something fun with her so my week wasn't wasted. But after she didn't show I figured she'd found something else to do and so should I." Sonic continued to rush out his explanation before Rouge could tear his hand away and proceed to kick his ass, but she had become strangely passive.

He continued "So I went for a run, looked for some Chaos Emeralds, stopped Robotnick short of his new plan- which was easy by the way-" His charming smile then faded slightly "and all that got me thinking. I gotta have something else in life. Something I can look forward to coming back to when everything else is over. You were right Rouge, I have become too dependant on the Dr and his games."

Sonic made a sudden pause but he willed himself to continue. "So I'm gonna start dating."

Rouge suddenly perked up at this information, she freed her mouth from beneath Sonic's hand and tried to pursue her original plan.

"Yes, that's good Sonic. So-"

"Rouge" He raised his hand again "I appreciate your…enthusiasm for my love life, but I think what happened at the casino was just a wake up call. I don't know the girl; I never got to meet her. I think if it was meant to be then it would have happened, don't you?"

Rouge sighed in defeat, "Well then, good luck blue." she gave the hedgehog a sly smile and walked to his front door; it was once again up to her to do her own dirty work. Though this trip was far from wasted, she now had a much better target than a scruffy little porcupine and her tiny fortune- she now had a chance of getting hold of the precious Chaos Emeralds!

"See ya Rouge." Sonic gave a little wave with a slightly confused tone. He and Rouge had never spoken to each other as much as they had in the space of these few weeks; it was odd that she was now seemingly looking out for him.

"See you Honey, real soon." Her wink was met with an uncomfortable smile from the fifteen year old.

Rouge paused as she opened the front door to leave, she turned to Sonic "I guess since you'll never find out yourself I may as well tell you." Sonic gave the bat a puzzled look.

"Her name is Leila." Rouge left smirking; her last look at the hedgehog saw him with glassy eyes and a stupid grin on his face.

Sonic knew who she was talking about without any need for a reminder.

"…Leila." He smiled to himself coyly, putting the name with the picture that was burned into his minds eye.

"Sonic! Come here!" Tails' call snapped Sonic out of the brief submersion into his feelings and the hedgehog was once again looking forwards.

"Coming Tails!"


	6. Finding A Girl

The past few months had been extremely tough for Sonic who had recently decided to start dating in the hopes of finding something more meaningful in his life away from adventure.

Amy Rose was Sonic's first leap into the dating world, he figured that she deserved at least one date for the many years of devotion she had shown him, plus they knew each other pretty well. And there was the matter of her killing him if she weren't the first; this was a fact in Sonic's mind.

Amy took full advantage of the date, knowing it was her one chance to woo her dream guy, so Sonic had to endure the restaurant, the beach, and the movie theatre. By the end of the day he was so full of energy that he could barely sit still through the moonlight conversation.

Amy was nothing but good to Sonic throughout the date, and she seemed to have calmed down on the physical contact, but for Sonic the downfall came when the moonlight conversation reminded him how much of a fan Amy was. He tried to use the opportunity to really get to know his self proclaimed girlfriend, but every turn of conversation led the focus back to Sonic; he couldn't open himself up to the girl either because each time he tried to reveal something about himself his words were met with a giggle and an 'I know' before Amy continued to reveal his own life story to him. It was creepy.

He then tried Sally Acorn, the princess of Mobius and the leader of the Freedom Fighters who were a group the Sonic Team associated with occasionally. Sonic was hesitant at first since the girl was royalty but she wasn't afraid to muck in with commoners and he found her sharp wit to be very attractive.

The date never really happened though, as Sally was more interested in using Sonic's free time to aid the Freedom Fighters in their latest plans to take down a terrorist group.

Sonic tried to explain his actual intentions, but it was met with a half hour speech about Mobian-rights and their duties as heroes to keep the innocent as their highest priority. Needless to say, the only feelings Sonic left with that day were ones of irritation and embarrassment.

Sonic exhausted his options over the weeks; testing the chemistry with his old girl friends and eventually settling for dates with strangers that took his fancy. He had no trouble in charming the girls, but they were either too boring, overcomplicated, or he discovered them to be one of his fan girls which was a nightmare, it was only now that Sonic resented his celebrity status as it made finding a genuine girl so much harder. His search had even made the headlines.

Sonic was currently dating a girl by the name of Tiara Boobowski, the name alone was enough to sway his interest, and it was her spunky attitude which convinced Sonic to go out with her in the first place; she walked right up to the hero and told him to stop wasting his time on anyone else. Impressed by her confidence, the hedgehog took her up on the offer and they had been dating for about a month now.

Today the couple were shopping in the classy end of the city; Tiara had no qualms about Sonic's persistent generosity as it meant she was able to buy designer clothes without spending a penny. Sonic couldn't find it in him to complain as he was treated to plenty of eye candy. He had to admit, Tiara was a gorgeous teen; she had the whole cheerleader look going for her.

The two came to a stop in the quieter end of town outside of a jewellery store and Tiara had her finger pressed firmly against the glass and pointing squarely towards a ruby studded ring.

"I want that." She said with a gleam in her eyes.

"Of course you do." Sonic sighed, feeling the hole in his wallet widen.

"Ohh no I want that one!" Tiara shuffled along the window display pointing at various jewels, her excitement increasing with each new find.

She gasped, spotting something further into the store. "Let's look inside!"

As Tiara drooled over the gems, Sonic looked over the price tags, his dread growing more intense as her search continued.

"I need some air baby, I'll be outside." Sonic breathed, Tiara simply waved him off without even turning away from the jewel cabinet.

Sonic paced around outside the store deep in thought, surely if he was willing to buy the girl jewellery it was becoming a serious relationship.

He looked in the store window at Tiara and tried to remind himself why she was the right choice- she was extremely good looking, she didn't take crap from anyone, and she seemed to hold just the right amount of interest in Sonic…when there weren't any shops around.

Sonic turned away from the store as Tiara called out the clerks to bring out more stock, it seemed that Sonic would be buying her jewellery whether he was willing or not.

It was this moment that the large, gated campus had ruined Sonic's view. His eyes held a look of slight anger as he walked across the road towards the iron gates; he despised these places as, to him, they were just another way of controlling the masses. This place was a school.

Throughout Mobius, learning institutions were reserved for only the extremely rich. Those who couldn't afford it, which was most people, were home schooled instead. Apart from the one holiday each summer, rich kids were forced into ugly uniforms and crammed into gated buildings to be taught a whole host of painfully boring subjects year after year. Sonic was always extremely grateful that he didn't have to go through all that; besides, what better way to learn than through experience, he always thought.

He poked his head through the gate and leaned in to catch a glimpse of the only classroom visible to him. He scanned across the windows, his ears drooping at the realisation that these were kids his own age who were trapped in there.

Recognising the girl in the next window made Sonic freeze up completely, yet the sight of her made him melt inside.

Leila was staring with glassy eyes towards the front of the classroom; she was cradling her head in her hands in complete boredom and what appeared to be sleepiness.

She suddenly jumped out of her skin and fumbled around with various books, her face was turning a little red and she kept lifting her fringe away from her face with her pencil as she talked towards the front of the class; Sonic presumed she had been caught out with a question from the teacher, he chuckled at her usual clumsy movements and even though this was all happening in mute for him, he could imagine her little voice stumbling over a hopeful answer.

"Don't you think it should be me you're looking at?" Tiara smirked, teasing the hedgehog.

"Oh hey!" Sonic did a double take and as he realised the situation, he tore himself away from the gates and put his arm around his girl. "Did you find anything you liked?"

"Nope. How about you, did you find anything you liked?" Tiara said nodding towards the school. Sonic started to stutter but Tiara's laughter told him she wasn't serious.

Tiara peeked over at Leila as the two began to walk away. "Hey Sonic, do you know that girl?"

Sonic stared over his shoulder at a disappearing Leila and thought hard about the seemingly simple question. Past conversations came flooding into his mind, and Sonic thought about how, even after all this time, the sight of his now named stranger thrilled him.

Sonic smiled to himself as he dropped his arm from around Tiara's shoulder "Yeah. I do know her."


	7. First Impressions

The Mobian Times had a field day when Sonic broke things off with Tiara; the manx took full advantage of the situation by selling her story to anyone offering the right amount of money, Sonic scoffed at the article as he thought about the obvious signs throughout their relationship- the girl was quite simply a camera whore.

The hero stepped out of the cafe slurping at his orange juice and wearing a full disguise, the café stood on the corner a little ways from the school he had been trying to enter for the past couple of days but he had found that as soon as the crowd of school girls spotted him he had no choice but to flee from their romantic rampage.

Sonic wasn't sure whether he should have been pleased or disturbed that the articles hadn't deterred his female fans one bit, he guessed they couldn't give a rats ass about Tiara, as long as Sonic was available the world was right in their eyes.

But today he was prepared and determined to meet Leila having finally registered his true feelings for her.

He tensed up and adjusted his costume as the school bells rang and the flood of pupils spread into the streets, some looking around anxiously in hopes the blue blur would make another appearance. As the stream of kids gradually became a trickle, Sonic grew slightly concerned having not seen Leila anywhere; he was so excited to meet her that the thought he had missed her yet again was going to send him mad.

He wandered through the school gates and into the main grounds looking for any signs of the porcupine; a brown squirrel on her way out was suddenly confronted by the dressed up hedgehog who seemed to be very flustered.

"Uh, hello. You haven't seen a girl called Leila anywhere have you?" The squirrel gave Sonic a very suspicious look, and he was suddenly very conscious of how mysterious he appeared. "I'm a friend. Promise." He said, taking off his disguise and readjusting his quills to reveal himself to the girl. He gave her a slightly embarrassed smile and shrugged to her, the squirrel's mouth dropped open revealing her braced front teeth.

"Sorry Sonic, something tells me she's going to be in there for some time yet!" The squirrel snorted, apparently there was something funny about the situation Leila was supposedly in. "But she'll be coming out that door there, so you can sit on the benches over there if you want to wait it out."

The squirrel blushed heavily as a majorly relieved Sonic gave her a tight embrace and kissed her hands, thanking her in his most charming voice. She snorted as she stumbled away, waving to the hero "Leila and I will be talking through science tomorrow!" she laughed to herself, thinking about how her lab partner's luck seemed to be changing.

Leila resisted every urge she had to cry whilst her history teacher gave her yet another scolding; what she found even more upsetting than being humiliated in front of the class and screamed at for a half hour past the school day's end was the knowledge that she was failing a subject she truly loved. She knew how to write a good essay, but a boring teacher meant she could barely stay awake to hear the necessary information; her father was a complete nazi when it came to her grades and so Leila darted out of the classroom as she was dismissed knowing full well that she was going to get the same speech at home.

She yanked the door open and stepped out into the school grounds, looking over her paper and trying to absorb the dozens of red scribbles telling her where she was going wrong when a sudden surge of wind had her scrambling to catch the pages before they blew away. Even though she'd dumped everything and darted for the papers she had only managed to rescue one; Leila looked down into her hands at the lone page, the fat 'F' that was scribbled on the page sat blaring at her and Leila felt herself welling up again. Suddenly, the rest of her paper was being handed to her under her nose so her hanging head could see it, she sighed and took the pages from the blue hedgehog, thanking him in a tone of exasperation.

Sonic had already gone for the flurry of papers before the wind could take them five feet from their owner, he put on his trademark grin when returning them but he couldn't find the words to catch Leila's attention as she shuffled past him, clearly upset. His hand simply hung in the air after her.

The porcupine suddenly froze and turned back to face Sonic, his smile instantly returned and he approached her with his usual confidence, he expected her to be a little gobsmacked but the hedgehog was caught completely off guard as she started backing away from him with tears still in her eyes and shaking her head in what was more refusal than disbelief.

"No, no, no. They told me all about you." She wagged her finger at Sonic, who was now paused and wearing an extremely confused look. "You can't pick me! Pick a cheerleader!" Leila was slightly panicked by the sight of the hero before her, he wasn't too well known in her original home town so she could only really rely on the things the papers and other girls told her about this love starved hedgehog. Being a new girl made it hard for her to get accepted into a group of friends and she knew that if anything were to happen with this guy she would be the scorn of all of her current female friends, or worse- she'd be suddenly surrounded by fakers and suck ups.

Sonic returned a lazy look at her reaction and made his way over to the teen, grabbing the essay papers out of her hands and flicking through them carelessly.

"Looks like you really crashed out on this one, Leila." He sniggered, teasing her in the hopes it would cheer her up a little. His heart was racing right now.

She wiped her eyes with an embarrassed smile. "Oh, don't even- wait…how do you know my name?" She leaned away, looking at him with curious eyes.

Sonic smirked and handed the papers back to the girl. "Pretty name." He began to stroll away in his usual act of being the cool and carefree hero, but his mind was alight with both the thrills and the worries of the situation; her reluctant first words were a little discouraging but Sonic of all people knew how quickly feelings could change.

Leila glanced down at the essay and suddenly felt like an imbecile; of course he got her name from her own damn essay. She laughed to herself and looked back to her acquaintance but he was now wandering off without her, she wondered if she was just about to make a huge mistake but she figured she'd be kicking herself if she let this opportunity pass by, despite how ridiculous it was.

"Wait a second." She sighed, holding a hand up before recovering her books and bag and jogging up to Sonic.

He took her bag and slung it over his shoulder. Looking down at the girl, Sonic realised how small she was, her hands were tiny compared to his own and she was about a head shorter than him. Her hair bounced with every step she took and her bright, yellow eyes darted around the surroundings a little unsure as she walked along. Her uniform consisted of a little white shirt, the typical chequered skirt which was a lovely dull green, black dolly shoes and long white socks and they were all completed with her school tie which was hanging down behind her head having been used to string back her long blue quills. Leila glanced up at Sonic, who returned her little peek with a lazy smile.

"…So what happens now, do you sweep me off my feet and get me the hell out of here?" She questioned a little nervously, she was trying to meet Sonic's attitude with her own sass but she didn't exactly pull off a very smooth delivery when she tried.

"Whoever said I came here for you?" Sonic leaned in and grinned slyly.

"So what are you doing with me then?" Leila asked flatly, she found herself feeling a little disappointed at the apparent mix up.

"What can I say; I just can't help myself when I see a pretty girl in trouble." He shrugged. "Which reminds me…"

Leila shrieked as Sonic suddenly scooped her up and started gathering some speed.

"Hold on to your books!" He yelled with laughter, Leila had panicked at the burst of speed and wrapped her arms around Sonic's head, letting her books and papers fly all over the place. Sonic rescued them again and shoved them into the one hand she would free from his neck.

Leila could barely keep her eyes open with the sharp winds that now lashed against her face, she had heard about Sonic being super fast but she always thought it was simply an exaggeration, it turned out the hedgehog really was super fast! This whole situation was so surreal, her crappy day had now turned into a school girl fantasy made real, she was in the arms of a hero and travelling a hundred miles a second!

Sonic wasn't looking at the path before him half as much as he should have been, his vision was mainly focused on capturing every detail of the girl he was carrying in his arms at this moment; it was a chance meeting for Leila, but for Sonic it felt more like the reward after a long journey. She was exactly as he imagined her to be, so clumsy and cute, with a slight sarcastic edge.

He was tempted to see where their walk would lead them, but as he said, she was in trouble and Sonic knew just how to fix it.

Having scanned through her essay, Sonic was going to take Leila to the one guy he knew could fill her in on 'the life and rituals of ancient echidna civilisations'. He only hoped the red idiot would be talking about history too much to ruin Sonic's casual first impression.


	8. Gossip part 1

So this next segment is in 5 chapters as it's simply easier to read that way, but it is all together.

Special thanks go to 'NoOneSpecial' and 'speedy2009'. Thanks for the lovely (and intellectual) reviews- I wrote this story on a whim at first but I will admit that the lack of recognition had discouraged me from continuing as I questioned whether it was too gentle/ slow/ boring for FF readers. Your reviews are what sent me back to this story just as I was going to leave it and I've really enjoyed writing this next bit, so thanks for the encouragement.

And also thanks to those who added the story on to their lists, (I haven't forgotten you!) it's much appreciated.

* * *

Leila awoke the next morning still smiling from what seemed to be a dream; if not for the revised essay sitting on her bedside table and her sore feet, she would have believed that yesterday's events really were a dream. Her eyes drifted from the essay to her alarm clock, which told her she was awake too early for once.

"Ohh 4:13 you gotta be kidding me." Leila grumbled, slinking an arm over her face to block the early light from her eyes, her mind was electric from the thrills of yesterday and since she knew she wasn't going to get back to sleep Leila returned to last night's task of wrapping her head around what happened.

_It wasn't until they had come to a sudden halt that Leila could once again open her eyes and take in her surroundings. She peeled herself off of Sonic, who then shoved her books and papers into her bag before slinging it over his shoulder again. Leila was cringing slightly at the crumpled mess that now filled her backpack and Sonic was finding her reaction to be very entertaining, he sniggered and mouthed a sarcastic 'oops' before running off again._

_He jogged off into the aircraft hangar calling out to someone, and Leila looked at the place in slight awe. It was so…chaotic. It was like the building couldn't decide between being an aircraft hangar and a house, so it simply meshed the two together in one big metallic heap._

_"Come on in!" Sonic peeked around the corner of the hangar door and beckoned Leila over._

_"Where are we?" Leila's voice echoed around the hangar, she looked around before wandering into the workshop. Having stubbed her toes a few too many times within the space of just a few steps Sonic offered her his hands to help her make it through the carpet of giant metal parts. He shot her a look of both humour and slight impatience._

_Taking his hands, Leila's ears wilted a little in embarrassment and she let out a timid laugh "They just kind of spring up on you." She tried to justify, feeling like her IQ was dropping by the minute in Sonic's view._

_He seemed to perk up with her comment "Yeah, tell me about it." He chuckled; they were paused as they found themselves caught in each other's eyes. Sonic's green eyes seemed to glow with familiarity, and Leila tried her best to return the look of warmth but she was sure her eyes were betraying her by screaming her feelings of puzzlement._

_Leila was growing increasingly curious about this hedgehog, she had only known him for about twenty minutes now but already he had revealed several shades of his personality, even if he hadn't realised it._

_"Hey Sonic!" Leila jumped out of her skin with the sudden yell from behind; she turned around sharply to see a bright young face smiling back at her._

_The young fox gave her a little wave before turning his attention back to Sonic. "Sonic, the Tornado's ready!"_

_"Thanks Tails!" Sonic gave the little fox a big thumbs up and a wink, and then placed a hand on a still blushing Leila's shoulder. "Leila, this is Tails. Tails, this is Leila."_

_"Ohhh so this… Leila, hi!" Leila raised an eyebrow at Tails, who seemed to have caught himself in the middle of muttering something before sending her another shock with his enthusiastic hello. Leila turned to Sonic, who glanced back at her a little shocked himself._

_"He does that a lot." Sonic tapped the side of his head "He's a genius." He said in a proud tone that suggested he was satisfied with his explanation._

_"Are you sure you're ready to fly this thing Sonic?" Tails interrupted, clearly worried for his precious piece of machinery._

_Sonic grabbed Leila and buckled her into the passenger seat before she could even ask what was going on, and settled himself into the cockpit, flicking various switches. "You forget who's plane this was little bro! We'll be fine!" Sonic sniggered and started up the Tornado, waving his little brother a cheeky goodbye as the plane pulled out of the hangar._

_Leila shouted over the roar of the engine but it seemed Sonic couldn't hear her calls._

_"SONIC!-"_

"-the hedgehog has once again served as the hero of Mobotropolis." Leila's alarm clock had suddenly sprung to life, spewing out the morning news. She sat up in one quick movement upon hearing the topic this morning; it was like the universe was trying to hammer Sonic's presence into her life.

"He saved the lives of three mobians who were trapped in an apartment block that had caught fire; the blaze broke out earlier this morning, it is thought that the fire was caused by some faulty wiring. We were able to speak to Sonic before he left the scene."

Leila was listening intently, it wasn't out of concern for the blue hedgehog since he seemed to be practically invincible, but it was just the sheer excitement of hearing him play the cocky hero again.

"Ah it was no sweat! I was just breezin' through! And now that everything's ok I'm gonna shoot! See ya!" Leila sniggered at the sound of the news reporter's equipment being dragged away by Sonic's sharp exit.

Leila shuffled her way over to her closet and pulled out her uniform, her closet looked so dull; it was crammed with uniform after boring uniform. And even her casual clothes were earthy colours; her mother didn't believe in such things as brightly coloured clothing, she said it made a woman look trashy.

"He would clash with everything!" She laughed to herself, amused by her own imaginings.


	9. Gossip part 2

Sonic raced up the steps of the Master Emerald's shrine and sunk down into a cross legged position opposite Knuckles, who was staring at him with great irritation.

"Haven't I seen enough of you recently?" Even though the echidna knew that it was simply a part of Sonic's morning ritual to stop by Angel Island he never gave up on putting up a fight about it.

"Aww don't be like that Knucks! You know you like my company, so the more Sonic the better right!" The blue hero rocked back and forth in pure joy, if he was ever to compile a list of his hobbies, then teasing Knuckles would certainly sit at number one.

"I was hoping that your little visit last night would've earned me a free morning."

"Yet here I am!"

"…Indeed." Knuckles suppressed his rage, his eyebrow twitched with the strain. "You know, you're lucky I didn't tell her all about the real reasons behind your outing."

"Pfft, yeah. You did a better job than Tails! He almost blew everything!" Sonic hadn't registered that Knuckles was making a threat, not a statement.

Knuckle s' frown turned into a toothy grin, he loved teasing Sonic as much as Sonic loved teasing him. "So, why don't you just tell her you looove her?" He leaned towards Sonic with a mocking tone, the hedgehog leaned as far back as he could and started to blush and frown.

"I don't love her! I barely know her!" He bit back.

"Oh c'mon, Rouge tells me everything! You love her!"

"Ohhh that's nice! A couple of gal pals and their gossip!" Sonic sniggered and Knuckles snarled at him. "…She is pretty cool though, am I right!" The conversation had finally levelled to its serious talk. It was like this every morning, once the banter was out of the way, the two friends would share their thoughts- well the manly ones anyway.

Knuckles let out a deep breath. "Yes, I suppose she's decent enough. Not like that Tiara character."

"Oh you know you like her more than that; you loved all that attention last night! I bet it makes a nice change having someone who actually asks for one of your longwinded stories!" Sonic joked.

"I love how you're not bothered by the fact your date was much more interested in me the whole evening." Knuckles said with his sharp grin, the banter was too plentiful to ignore this morning. He sighed "But did she find last night helpful at all?"

"Yeah, everything's cool Knucks, thanks."

"…Isn't she a bit, well, quiet for you though? I mean, I had to strain my ears just to hear the girl!"

"You have no ears. Of course she's quiet to you." Knuckles responded with an annoyed growl which told Sonic to get serious. "I don't know Knuckles; as shy as she is, when I look into those eyes, all I can see is this bright little fire. It's so subtle, but it drives her, I can tell." Sonic's eyes were glazed over as he spoke, he thought back to the day he first saw her, and about her little list.

"Have you said that to her?"

"Why? Have I moved you Knuckles!" Sonic said dramatically before a swift punch sent him sprawling to the floor.

"Talk or leave hedgehog!" Sonic swore that Knuckles had gone a new shade of red, whether that was out of embarrassment or rage he did not know.

"No I haven't said that to her" Sonic cradled his cheek in his hand and answered in a childish tone "Seriously, how would you feel if someone who you think you've just met turns around and says you've been the centre of their world for like 3 months!"

"Creepy."

"Exactly." Sonic said with a swollen cheek and a large pout. He was suddenly feeling very embarrassed at this whole situation, he really did sound like some creep. "I better get some ice on this."

"See you tomorrow." Knuckles folded his arms and returned to his usual stony look as Sonic dashed off.


	10. Gossip part 3

Leila entered the school yard with a slightly pained look on her face, she had done a great deal of running and climbing in her school shoes yesterday and it seemed that they were going to be even less forgiving today.

"Leila! Leila!" Leila strained a smile for her overexcited lab partner as she bounded up to her and linked their arms, dragging Leila off to science class early. "Tell me everything!" The squirrel snorted in a hushed tone.

"E-everything about what!" Leila leaned away slightly, a little unnerved.

"You know, about you and…" The squirrel quickly darted her eyes around the place "…you-know-who the hedgehog." She whispered.

"How do you know about that?" Leila asked in an equally curious tone.

"Like I told you before, I can sniff out a hero from fifty feet!" The squirrel sniggered to herself. Her answer didn't offer any kind of actual explanation though.

"…Oh yes, I remember now. How silly of me." Leila said, trying to humour the squirrel.

"So, c'mon. I want details! What did you do?"

"Emily. If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone else, ok!" Leila sighed, giving in to her friend's nagging. Though, to be honest, Leila knew she was just as giddy on the inside.

"Cross my heart, yadda, yadda! Spill!" Emily clasped her hands together in excitement.

"Ok, so he took me in a plane to Angel Island!" Leila leaned in close to her listener and recalled the events that were still turning in her mind.

_"Sonic! I can't- we can't be here! It's forbidden!" Leila panicked as soon as she knew they'd be touching down on Angel Island, if people were allowed here, they wouldn't have someone guarding the place._

_"Kinda makes it more fun that way, don't you think?" Sonic leaned over Leila and unbuckled her seatbelt, smirking at her as he delivered yet another smooth line._

_"…Let's go!" She whispered back with a cheeky little grin, Sonic's reckless attitude was really striking chords with her!_

_To her surprise, Sonic didn't try to lead Leila or carry her at all, he simply let her explore and he gave a helping hand whenever she stumbled or got in trouble with some wildlife. Leila was thankful for her little 'Casino Night' adventures as it had made her a lot more confident on her feet, though she'd never been anywhere like this before and even her 'training' hadn't quite prepared her for the sandpits, bogs, and jungles of Angel Island._

_"Sonic, this is fun and all, but how is this helping 'a pretty girl in trouble' exactly?" Leila panted after a long stretch of running and climbing, glancing up at Sonic made her feel even more like a rookie; he wasn't out of breath at all._

_"Your timing couldn't be better! C'mon!" Sonic took Leila by the arm and walked them through the clearing; he obviously knew this place like the back of his hand. "Now, as bad a historian that you are, even you know that Angel Island is home to the last living echidna. And he just so happens to be a very good friend of mine!" Sonic said smoothly, not even blinking to catch the large rock that was thrown at his head. Leila darted her eyes in the direction it was thrown to see a red echidna shouting down from the Master Emerald's shrine and shaking his enormous fists._

_"I'm not sure he feels the same way." Leila said in a slightly humoured tone._

_"Sure he does, that's how he shows affection!" Sonic laughed as all that could be heard in the distance was a furious 'Shut up! I'm not some wild animal!'_

_Sonic led Leila up the many steps towards the ferocious echidna, she looked down at her uniform as she tried to brush herself off a little and she bit her lip at her tattered clothes, they were caked in mud and torn in various places. Her mother would be furious._

_Sonic, however, seemed very amused by it all. "Hey, nothin' a little spit shine won't fix!" Leila playfully shoved him a little, and the hedgehog continued to giggle, she loved how light hearted he was, it seemed he could effortlessly dissolve any worries she could ever come up with._

_Leila turned her head only to be confronted by the big red echidna, he was both taller and bulkier than Sonic so he was almost gigantic in Leila's view, she had to tilt her head back just to see his face. He towered over her with crossed arms and an intense look in his eyes, and the word 'forbidden' was thumping the inside of Leila's head once again._

_Sonic pulled Leila away from the giant and held her just in front of him. "Knuckles, this is my new friend Leila. Leila this is my good buddy Knuckles."_

_"I am not your buddy." Knuckles completely ignored the greeting and took a shot at Sonic._

_"Sure, sure. We haven't been buddies for about five years now!" Sonic chuckled to Leila, who was looking up at him in pure amusement. "Anyway, Knuckles, my new friend Leila is in some trouble and you are the only guy that can help her. So how about it, it's not like you've got a busy schedule." Leila tried not to snigger at Sonic's lame attempts at sweet talk but he was just too funny right now, instead of a laugh Leila had plastered a wide grin on her face trying to keep composed._

_"What kind of trouble?" Knuckles eyed the girl suspiciously and her smile faded as he did so._

_Sonic removed her backpack and placed it into Leila's hands, he gave her a little shove forward and after a second of frozen anxiety she rummaged around in her bag and dug out some crumpled papers. She smoothed them over quickly with a nervous laugh and handed them to Knuckles._

_Knuckles looked them over, grumbling to himself, before looking back at Leila for a good ten seconds. Leila thought she was going to melt with nerves, she had never seen an echidna before and this one was scary. She flinched a little as a booming laugh suddenly erupted from the big red male, Knuckles walked up to her with a big smile and he put a large arm around her and guided her further into the shrine._

_"Why didn't you just say so! Of course I'll help you!" Leila glanced back at Sonic as Knuckles dragged her away; Sonic simply winked and strolled behind them with his arms behind his back, looking around the shrine with an absolute aura of calmness. Leila let out a sigh at the sight, she felt so comfortable with him around. Well, of course she would have, he was the hero of Mobius after all, Leila figured he had that effect on all the girls._

_"I'm not surprised you'd rather come to me than take that blue imbecile's word, I think I've come across chao's with bigger brains than him!" Knuckles continued to slander Sonic whilst leading Leila to the back of the shrine, he stopped and pointed to the large mural that was engraved into the wall and started to explain its history._

_"Mind if I take notes?" She squeaked, retrieving a note pad and pen._

_Knuckles' smile widened, it seemed like he was overjoyed to have this opportunity to talk about his heritage "Of course!"_

_As the afternoon fell into evening, Leila found herself completely enthralled by Knuckles' stories, he was a very entertaining teacher and even though she had more than enough material for her essay she continued to ask him questions. Her love for history was finally met with a good teacher. The three teens were seated in front of the master emerald as Knuckles wound down on his tale about its origins. Leila was still taking notes and Sonic was sitting with his head in his hands, it seemed he wasn't as into Knuckles' stories as Leila was; she glanced at him from time to time from beneath her bushy fringe, at times his eyes darted away from her and settled back on Knuckles, he obviously thought he was getting away with his lingering looks so Leila didn't say anything about it as they left the shrine at nightfall._

"Oh. Well that's not a good date Leila; you didn't even talk to him!" Emily said, packing up the Petri dishes they had been using.

"It wasn't a date. He was just trying to help me out, and from what I've read he does that on a daily basis so it's nothing special." Leila trailed off on the end of her sentence sounding a little disappointed. "And I did talk to him, granted we never had hour long in depth conversations, but…you don't really need that with him. He tells you so much more in his expressions alone. And just the way he says things."

"Wow, you know him pretty well by the sound of it."

The bell rang and Leila wandered away from their station a little dazed. "Not really, we only met yesterday."

"Wait, what!" Emily called after her, extremely confused, but Leila was already gone.


	11. Gossip part 4

Sonic had been lazing in the cockpit of the Tornado for a good part of the afternoon, tending to his swollen cheek with an icepack, as Tails worked on the plane's body below.

"So why do I have to mumble to myself?" Tails' voice echoed around the workshop.

"Well, you almost blew my cover yesterday and so I told her it's your habit. So now, it's your habit." Sonic groaned as he pressed the icepack against his cheek.

"I don't see why I have to- uh she seemed nice!"

"Yeah just like that." Sonic said in a slightly annoyed tone. "Good, I'm glad you think so."

"So what will be your next excuse to see her?" Tails chuckled.

"I hadn't thought about it. Guess I'll just say I wanted to see how that new essay went down." Sonic's lazy tone didn't reflect the worry in his head, he was afraid of slipping up and revealing the real story to Leila, so he was trying to act as detached as possible. But he was finding it near impossible, she was so familiar to him yet new at the same time, he just wanted to take her in from each new angle he saw her, he wanted to absorb her little quirks and expressions so he could play them back in his mind. The memories from before were no longer satisfying to him, he wanted to experience her from this new, close distance.

"Come on Sonic, you don't need an excuse. From what I could see, she seemed pretty intrigued."

"Really?" Sonic leaned over the edge of the cockpit in wonder before sniggering to himself and leaning back again. "I guess I was pretty smooth wasn't I?"

"Uh, I didn't mean it like that exactly. I meant she just seemed, well, interested. Entertained."

Sonic's smile faded a little. "Oh. Well that's good too I guess."

"Hey, it's pretty understandable Sonic. I mean, you've known her a lot longer than she's known you, so of course she's not where you are just yet."

"She's not?" Sonic mumbled to himself in disappointment.

"…Sorry Sonic, that's just my logic. Anyway, if you want to have any chance of wooing her you'd better get going, it's 3:15 already so she's possibly gone by now."

Sonic leapt out of the Tornado and sped away without a single word, leaving Tails sighing to himself and returning back to his own love.


	12. Gossip part 5

As the bell rang at 3:00 signalling the end of the school day, Leila prepared her feet for the walk back home and proceeded to the gates.

"Leila! Wait up!" Emily ran up to her for the second time today. She smiled and nudged her friend, whispering in hushed tones "So, you didn't finish the story! Tell!"

"Don't you want to save it for tomorrow?" Leila sighed. "Besides I've pretty much covered everything."

"No, you left out the most important part! The end! How did he say goodnight?" The squirrel prodded and poked for the next round of gossip.

"He didn't say goodnight."

"Ohhh! So he-"

"He said goodbye." Leila stated flatly.

_Sonic had parked the Tornado in the field that was Leila's back garden; he jumped out of the cockpit and whistled to himself._

_"Wow, pretty nice place you have here! Palatial!" He gave Leila a hand down as she climbed out from the plane to join him on the ground._

_"Nah, I prefer your place." She smiled to him, blushing. They had once again locked eyes, but this time Leila's eyes felt more like gentle pools than alarm bells. "Uh, so thank you for helping me Sonic. I guess I'd better let you go. But I'll see y-"_

_"Yep, that's a good job well done if I do say so myself!" Sonic chuckled, smiling his usual charming smile. He hadn't noticed Leila's face drop a little._

_She composed herself and put on a smile again "Right." She laughed, her eyes darted about the floor a little as she mentally kicked herself for getting tangled up in the 'fantasy made real'._

_"Goodbye Leila, it was great to meet you!" Sonic had gotten into the Tornado and was flicking the various switches before waving down to her as the plane started to move._

_"Goodbye, thanks for the help!" She waved with a bright smile, she was lucky the wind from the propeller was so strong as it gave a good excuse as to why her ears were flat against her head._

"And that's it." Leila muttered to Emily, who was now very subdued.

"B-but, it doesn't make any sense! He was so interested in you!" Emily stuttered, thinking back to yesterday when she herself had come across Sonic.

"No, I guess it was just the way I perceived things." Leila said in a matter of fact tone, she had been trying to focus on only the good ever since that goodbye. And it had been working until now; it was only now that she had to recall the sloppy ending that the feelings of disappointment from the actual event had returned.

"But Leila, he asked m-" Before Emily could even finish her sentence, a dash of wind had taken the porcupine from the very spot she was standing in. Emily looked after the disappearing blue streak and sighed with a smile, before turning on her heel and making her own way home.

Leila opened her eyes to see a blur of shapes and a familiar wind against her face, she turned her head to see Sonic grinning at her cheekily.

"Hi!" He chirped with enthusiasm.

"Hi." She spoke, her eyes softening.


End file.
